“...yesterday I saw Quentin not as the bright face everyone puts on for the purpose of dating but as she was when things broke down, and I still wanted to be there. Maybe more than ever, if only to enjoy the happiness that inevitably follows tragedy, when everything works out.”

“I was a happy melancholy, though — a contradiction in terms, to be sure, but every human understands this paradox, because they have all felt it.”

“He says he knows someone isn't from the same race as he when that person looks at his library and asks, 'Have you read all of these?' A true book lover knows that, no, he hasn't read them all. It's about the process, it's about when the right reference comes up, you have the right book to go to; it's about never being without something to occupy your eyes and mind.”

“There's time enough, though. Time enough to learn everything about one another. That's the adventure. And the longer it takes just means we'll never get bored.”

“The longer I live, the more I have the feeling like God looks down, like when you've just bitten into a vanilla ice cream cone, you just get the feeling God's going, 'Yes! He enjoys it, and I made his taste buds and I made vanilla and he's putting it together and he's experiencing what I created him to experience.”

“I looked at Mommy but quickly shook my head. "I don't want to miss her."Becky put her soft, warm hand on my shoulder, just like Mommy used to when I was upset. "Your mom wants to be here with you. She wants that very much. But Jesus wants her with him right now."I frowned. "I need her more than Jesus does.”

“I smiled to fight the tears. "Fifty bucks says you'll be thanking me for this when you meet your future wife." Travis's eyebrow pulled together as his face fell. "That's an easy bet. The only woman I'd ever wanna marry just broke my heart.”